Reading glasses, or magnifiers, have been available in the past which have been both of the hand held type and of a kind that is supported on a reading surface over the material to be read. The latter type has included lenses mounted for use in spaced relation to a reading surface and some where a magnifying lense lies directly on the reading material for magnifying a line or two at a time. These lenses were largely elongated so as to extend over the width of the page being read, but others were of a shorter length for shifting along as the material was read. Where such lenses were spaced above the reading material, it usually was by means of some simple supporting frame, more or less in the nature of generally vertical legs of a length to provide the desired spacing above the material.
The supporting structure for such lenses was open entirely around the lense and the surface and there was no provision for directing such light onto the reading material. Similarly, the reading area was subjected to shadows which also entered this area from any open side of the lense support depending upon where the cause of the shadow was located.